Several mainland tech giants are launching digital collectibles as a novel gifting option for the Chinese New Year holiday season, which starts Feb. 1.
Fast facts
- Digital collectibles are essentially non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but the term has been discouraged by authorities.
- Chinese search engine Baidu’s XuperChain has launched its digital collectibles platform, with a series featuring the Year of the Tiger, according to the company.
- Ant Group’s online payment platform Alipay’s NFT platform Jingtan, formerly known as Fensili, is also rolling out digital collections to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival.
- UnionPay is set to issue at least eight editions of digital collectibles as part of the new year celebration.
- Chinese video gaming giant NetEase launched its digital collectible platform based on its own blockchain technology on Wednesday.
- Unlike cryptocurrencies, China has not banned NFTs, but state media has issued multiple warnings against the latter’s speculative nature, as Alipay and Tencent rebranded NFTs to digital collectibles in October.
